New Zealand spoiled the celebration of Percy Montgomery's 100th cap for South Africa with a 19-0 victory in their Tri Nations encounter in Cape Town on Saturday to return to the summit of the IRB World Rankings.
The All Blacks had gone into the sixth match of the 2008 Tri Nations trailing the world champions by 0.95 rating points, but Graham Henry's side knew that victory at Newlands would see the sides swap places yet again.
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New Zealand had briefly regained the number one ranking they had lost during Rugby World Cup 2007 with their opening defeat of South Africa in Wellington last month, but losing to the Springboks the following week saw them return to second.
The 19-0 victory - the first time South Africa have failed to score at home in the history of the Tri Nations - means that New Zealand now sit on top of the rankings with 91.21 rating points, more than three points clear of South Africa.
South Africa now have a cushion of 1.7 rating points over third ranked Australia, the side they now face in back to back Tests in Durban and Johannesburg as this year's Tri Nations enters the final third.
Niue on the rise
However the Tri Nations was not the only competition to have an impact on the IRB World Rankings this weekend with Kenya and Niue enjoying victories over higher placed opponents in the Elgon Cup and Oceania Cup respectively.
Kenya made the most of home advantage in Nairobi to beat Uganda 39-20 in the second leg of their annual Elgon Cup tussle, overturning a 17-point deficit to retain the silverware with an aggregate win of 42-40.
The Kenyans, though, climb only one place in the rankings to 40th as a result of the home victory at the Rugby Football Union of East Africa Grounds, swapping places with another African side in the Ivory Coast.
Uganda, who had also seen a 19-point first leg advantage overturned by Kenya last year, fall seven places to 38th as a result of the defeat with Poland, Paraguay, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Moldova all climbing one place.
Meanwhile Niue are the biggest climbers of the last seven days with a 10-place rise to 61st following their 18-7 defeat of the Cook Islands, a victory which confirms their place in the Oceania Cup final at the end of this month.
The Cook Islands, who fielded only locally based players for the match - nine of whom were making their international debuts, fall five places after the home defeat to 57th with less than two rating points separating them from Niue now.
